U.S. officials warn of ISIS' new caliphate: cyberspace

"For the foreseeable future, cyber will continue to be the thing I most fear" warns @SenatorBurr

"I may be more concerned today about a potential North Korean action" but @SenatorBurr says when he lays his head down on his pillow, "Cyber's the greatest threat"

"Companies have to take some responsibility," per @SenatorBurr on cyber and security issues "Do you really want to leave technology decisions to the group that I serve with?"

"I want to limit through policy the tools that they [Russia] can use" says @SenatorBurr

[email protected] says US intel saw Russia disinfo effort in real-time, and both intel community and lawmakers were "anxious" to see leadership from Obama administration that didn't come

"My concern long term is that if we get too accustomed to unnamed sources, that will be the predominance of what's out there…" says @SenatorBurr at CFR, talking about unnamed sources in media on Russia investigation

[Putin] would like a weak United States that's unwilling and unable to push back against Russia" per @EvelynNFarkas

"They're [Russia] directing their anger today toward the European Union, which they dislike as an organization… and the dislike the United States" per Nyberg, adding Russia thinking not very strategic but emotional now

"Russia is a sieged fortress today. They're isolated and self-isolating themselves" per Nyberg

"Foreign policy is mostly the privilege of the government but its not a monopoly anymore" fmr Finland Ambassador to Russia René Nyberg

With countering Russia, though, "It is educating the people, informing the people…but not playing the [Russia] playbook back" says Finland's fmr Amb Nyberg

"This should not be anti-Russian. It is a larger problem," says René Nyberg, former Ambassador of Finland to Russia at CFR symposium

"The Russian government is not likely to respond to a soft request for negotiation" on Moscow's influence campaigns/cyber, per @EvelynNFarkas "we essentially have to force them to recognize that the price is too high"

"This problem comes down to leadership….what do we want? What do we want our world to be like?" says @selectedwisdom on countering not just Russia, but others, even domestic political campaigns on socialmedia

There is a danger, says @selectedwisdom - "We're much closer to real breaks in the United States than people really understand at this point"

"Declaring a source now, it's way too late" per @selectedwisdom "As long as it [the content from @RT or @SputnikInt] appeals to their preferences, they're going to consume it"

Making @RT and @SputnikInt register as foreign agents - "It's great that they did that It won't affect anything" says @selectedwisdom at @CFR_org Election Security symposium

In the United States "I'm not sure anyone knows what their role is in countering influence online" says @selectedwisdom "I haven't seen a lot of gears moving in any direction"

Europe doing better, says @selectedwisdom "Both structurally and in terms of message they're much more grounded so they can punch back" vs Russia influence ops

"We have failed in this for a decade now… in our counter influence. We don't always know what we believe in" per @selectedwisdom whether Russia or terror

Combating Russia influence ops with elections - "I don't know that anything's working yet…" says @selectedwisdom

"We get calls every day… people are concerned" counters Indiana's @SecretaryLawson "I've had just as many calls regarding the security of our elections … as I have ever had"

Do Americans care about election security?"No," says @sultanofcyber "I'm concerned also about a leadership deficit on this topic" (which he describes as bipartisan)

Pro-ISIS hacker group "Electronic ghosts of the Caliphate" threatens to penetrate websites, including government and military, with America as a first target. They announced to act on December 8

"We spend far more on election campaigns than we do on running elections themselves" warns UPenn's Prof. Blaze

If US hasn't seen a large scale breach of voter registration data "it's because no one has seriously tried" per UPenn ComputerandInformation Science Prof Matt Blaze

"There are extremely capable people in DHS… who need to be empowered to assist" per UPenn's Blaze re election security

Trump administration "playing a huge role" in working to strengthen election security per Indiana's @SecretaryLawson - especially with security clearances

Another part of the problem - most local voting systems were not designed to defend against anything more than local corruption, not to mention nation-state intel adversaries, per UPenn's Blaze

Biggest worry abut election security is at county/ local level, per UPenn's Matt Blaze - "Some of them are quite good in protecting their systems. Some of them are less good…"

Do Russia, other adversaries want to hack vote tallies? "In their dreams they'd love that ability" says @sultanofcyber, but notes it's not so easy - "Being able to see the causation from intent… that's the tricky part"

Bigger problem is remote access, says @BelferCenter's Michael @sultanofcyber - "you've got to have a way to turn off the wifi on some of these devices"

Can someone mess with physical votes? "Is it possible? Yes. Is it practical? I would say no," says @SecretaryLawson

"I don't want to say our elections are illegitimate but I don't know that I can say that they aren't" per UPenn Assoc Prof Matt Blaze

But "About the time you say you're comfortable is the time you should be worried" adds @SecretaryLawson re CyberSecurity elections

Apple has removed all of its VPN apps on phones so that Chinese citizens can no longer access blocked websites behind the Great Firewall.

EU High Representative @FedericaMog says people were skeptical NATO and EU would truly improve their practical cooperation after years of unfulfilled promises. She and @jensstoltenberg are announcing a new list of common tasks, their second such list, including on hybrid threats and women's issue